Oman Oil, ORPIC merge downstream businesses

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DUBAI (Reuters) - Oman Oil Co and Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Co (ORPRIC) have merged their downstream businesses and appointed a new group chief executive as part of plans to integrate the two companies, ORPIC said in a statement posted on its twitter account.

Musab al-Mahruqi will take over as group chief executive effective Dec. 2 and oversee the integration of the management and assets of the two companies, the statement said.

Al-Mahruqi was chief executive of ORPIC between 2010 and 2016 and led Oman’s first large-scale corporate integration between 2010-2012, it said. He earlier worked at Oman Oil.

Reuters reported in May that Oman was working with consultancy McKinsey & Co to integrate its refining and petrochemical companies into one entity, citing a senior Omani official and a financial source.

In recent years, Gulf countries have looked at ways to reform their oil firms, including through privatization, to make them more efficient during a period of low oil prices.

Oman has been considering a wide range of privatizations for several years.